Note: This story originally appeared on Redbook.
When people first see 18-year-olds Lucy and Maria Aylmer, they can tell that the two young women from Gloucester, England, are strikingly pretty. What they can't tell is that Lucy, who has fair skin and ginger hair, and Maria, who is dark-skinned with black hair, are actually biological twins.
Their father, Vince, is white, and their mother, Donna, is half-Jamaican. But even though it is possible for an interracial couple to give birth to biracial babies, it is incredibly rare, which is why it was a huge surprise for the mother when her newborns were handed to her looking nothing alike.
"It was such a shock for her because things like skin colour don't show up on scans before birth," Lucy told The Daily Mail. "So she had no idea that we were so different. When the midwife handed us both to her she was just speechless."
The teens have three older siblings who are all multiracial, making them the anomaly of the family.
"Our brothers and sisters have skin which is in between Maria and I. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum and they are all somewhere inbetween," Lucy said.
Unsurprisingly, no one believes them when they say they are twins, even when they make an effort to resemble one another.
"Most twins look like two peas in a pod – but we couldn't look more different if we tried. We don't look like we have the same parents, let alone having been born at the same time," Lucy said. "Friends have even made us produce our birth certificates to prove it."
While it's certainly frustrating, Lucy and Maria have embraced the fact that their totally un-identical twin look is precisely what makes them unique and really cool.
"Maria loves telling people at college that she has a white twin – and I'm very proud of having a black twin," Lucy said.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
